Bank-robbery suspect ID'd by tattoo

A serial bank-robbery suspect was identified with the help of the mother of his children after she recognized his distinctive tattoo - a dark blotch that covered her name at the request of another woman, authorities said.

Terrol Alan Casborn, 32, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Oakland on Wednesday on charges that he robbed the Mechanics Bank on Concord Avenue in Concord of $19,242 on Aug. 8 and ECC Bank on Sun Valley Boulevard in Concord of $4,508 on Jan. 22.

Casborn pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Oakland on Thursday.

The Mechanics Bank surveillance video showed that the robber had a large, irregularly-shaped "blotch or spot close to the wrist, with what appears to be cursive writing below the blotch, closer to the knuckles," FBI Special Agent Todd Dorman wrote in an affidavit.

A ski mask was found near the scene of both bank robberies, authorities said.

The mask found after the January robbery was analyzed by the San Mateo County sheriff's office crime lab, where criminalists matched the DNA to Casborn, who has previous convictions for resisting arrest, car theft, forgery and passing fictitious checks, authorities said.

On April 14, the FBI interviewed Jolene Allen, the mother of Casborn's four children, Dorman wrote. At one point, Casborn had the name, "Jolene," tattooed on the back of his left hand and the name of their daughter tattooed immediately below it, Allen told investigators.

"Allen knows that Casborn subsequently had the name 'Jolene' covered by a dark tattoo at the request of another woman," Dorman wrote.

Allen recognized Casborn on the two surveillance videos, the FBI said.

Authorities said he is also suspected of robbing two banks in Fairfield and one in Benicia from June to August 2008.

In all five hold-ups, the robber wore a ski mask and was armed with a gun, the FBI said.

Casborn was arrested June 17 .He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.